Emma's Angels
by elisesdean
Summary: Emma has formed a group of three incredible women to help her save the town from minor and major catastrophes and keep it in order. These women are called Emma's Angels. (Swan Queen, Red Beauty, Sleeping Warrior, and hints of Captain Hook and Tink (I'm sorry I don't know this ship name..) )
1. Chapter 1

**Anonymous Asked You: Emma's angels - In light of all the magical emergencies in town Emma is forced to create a small task force of three witches to protect Storybrooke from magic. The trio is quickly nicknamed 'Emma's Angels' by the town's citizens.**

**AN: This prompt was with me for over a year, for that I ask forgiveness to the prompter and hope that this anon enjoys, if they're still in the fandom and a fan of mine!**

**I decided against witches and used my favorite characters. Hope that's okay!**

**Also, just a general disclaimer: I have always loved the **_**Charlie's Angels**_** movie made in 2000. I've also been obsessed and have been binge watching **_**Leverage**_** on Netflix (I'm halfway through with my second round of the show—yes, I enjoy it that much). So, there will be similarities—even catchphrases used in honor of the characters on that show, though you don't need to have seen it to enjoy this fic (however, as I sometimes do, I've left Easter eggs around for those that have seen and like the show). I recommend **_**Leverage**_** to anyone that wants a comedic-action-protecting-the-innocent-but-awesome-and-thievery-is-involved show…**

**As a general by the by, you will see normal scene changes with six squigglies (~) and tiny scene changes with two. When I use a smaller amount of squigglies—and this is really in any of my works—it's meaning that the scenes are closer together than a normal scene change, like it's happening just after. In this story, if I use the two squigglies and not six, I am either using them as a literary montage device or to show that the next scene is immediately after or continuous with the scene previous. (I hope I've explained clearly enough…)**

**Hope you all enjoy.**

Emma shut the bedroom door behind her and moved quietly to her dozing wife and the sleeping newborn on said wife's chest. She carefully got in bed with them.

"You really think I'm sleeping at a time like this?" Regina's soft deadpan filled the room.

"A woman can hope."

"Darling..."

"I know. All the stuff that's going on. That bitch wants our kid dead…"

"Hannah. That bitch wants Hannah dead. We've had her name picked out since my fifth month, Darling honestly. Are you just going to call both our children 'kid'? You can't even come up with something new?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Emma's sarcasm was not subtle. "I'll let you insult me all you want right now…" she lifted Hannah from Regina's chest and held her close as she stood up and moved to the window, looking out the small crack Regina allowed for the grim night they were living through.

It was as they stood quietly, Regina softly turning on her side in the bed that they heard Ruby howl to the moon.

"Oh, Hannah, my love, you have probably come at the most inopportune time." Emma held the baby tighter to her body, kissing the crown of the newborn's head.

"Emma. Don't… I can't… Bring her away from the window…"

"Have some faith, Regina."

"I'll have faith when the girls—"

"The _Angels_."

"The girls finish."

"They said it wouldn't be long now."

"That's not good enough."

Emma gave her wife a soft, loving, protective look as she moved with the baby back to the bed. She carefully got back on and settled against the head board. She then brought Hannah to lie in the crevice between her legs and felt her wife snuggle against her. They watched the baby open her eyes a little bit.

"She is magical. I can't get over her eyes, Babe."

"I know." Regina traced the brand new baby's eyebrow line, "One brown. And one green." She kissed Emma's cheek.

"She's perfect." Emma put a loving hand over Hannah's tummy, "And so tiny! Look, she's like the size of my hand."

"She is not. Just her torso. She's perfectly healthy."

Emma shrugged, "Hannah. You have no idea what the Angels are doing for you right now…"

"Why do you have your epic story voice on?"

"Because Honey, I'm about to tell an epic story."

"One that's in progress? How's that gonna work?"

"Like this, Sassy." Emma stared at Hannah. "Once upon a time—"

"All of your stories start off 'once upon a time' and you know what? None of them are fairytales…."

"What's your point?"

"Tell her a fairytale. I don't want her first bedtime story to be this one."

Emma shrugged, "Meh. This one is a fairytale technically. Besides it's way better than the typical fairytales she's gonna get to know thanks to Disney." Regina opened her mouth to speak, but Emma kissed her by way of cutting her off. She gave Regina one last look to make sure she wouldn't interrupt again.

"**Once Upon a time there were three very different girls…"**

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Flashback: Ruby: The Enchanted Forest Pre-Curse:**

Ruby could feel the fear as she quickly made her way through the forest. As she came upon a little girl cornered at a large tree, surrounded by wolves ready to pounce, she ran at her full speed, surprising both the wolves and the girl.

"Hi, Sweetie." She gave a smile as she half-glanced behind her while she faced the wolves. "It's okay to be scared, but just remember next time that you just have to remind them that you're their friend. You have to adapt to them, to do what they want. You have to remind them that they are an animal on the hunt too."

Ruby turned with a wink before she looked up at the moon and howled while she shape-shifted into her wolf. She got the other wolves' attention. She was clearly bigger and better than their alpha, and after making him feel inferior to her, having him understand that they would not be preying on this little girl, she turned to the girl and licked the girl's cheek before nuzzling into the child's hands, making the girl pet her.

It wasn't long before the rest of the wolves began sniffing her and wanting to play. They ended up walking the lost girl back to the village, back to her home. After making sure the girl's parents opened it—which they did with worry on their faces, Ruby sat, causing the rest of the pack to follow suit. They waited patiently and when the parents looked up to thank the rescuer, the bewilderment on the parents' faces was priceless. They thanked the wolves and the father (and butcher of the town) was kind enough to give the wolf pack some meat.

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Flashback: Belle: The Enchanted Forest Pre-Curse:**

Belle sat at the front and center of her class. As always. She sat straight and closed her eyes as the possibilities of the answer to the professor's riddle ran through her mind.

"A lonely wanderer, wounded with iron, I am smitten with war-blades, sated with

strife,

Worn with the sword-edge; I have seen many battles, Much hazardous fighting, oft

without hope

Of comforts or help in the carnage of war Ere I perish and fall in the fighting of men.

The leavings of hammers, the handiwork of smiths, Batter and bite me, hard-eged

and sharp;

The brunt of the battle I am doomed to endure. In all the folk-stead no leech could I

find

With wort or simple to heal my wounds; But day and night with the deadly blows

The marks of the war-blades double and deepen."

The professor walked around the front of his classroom as he waited for someone to raise their hand, "Anyone?"

Belle narrowed her eyes a smirk on her face before she folded her hands in her lap, "A shield."

The class seemed to both thank Belle for the answer and slump forward because they didn't think of it first. This only made her smirk more prominent on her face and her back a little straighter as the arrogance flowed through her.

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Flashback: Mulan: The Enchanted Forest Pre-Curse**

Mulan walked along the street. She worked all day at her father's restaurant and it was far passed a safe time by the time she locked up for the night. She felt as if she were being followed.

She turned.

Nothing.

She picked up her pace a fraction but continued walking. This second time there was no doubt that she felt eyes boring into her back.

She turned again.

No one.

She broke into a sprint. She heard the many footfalls catch up with her and it wasn't long before her face hit the pavement and the beginnings of a brutal beating came upon her. She saw that it was boys her own age, boys from her own class actually.

She closed her eyes hoping the hits would end and the boys would leave her alone. It was in this moment that a need came over her. A sense of peace, but a distinct need to protect flowed throughout her veins. She picked herself up while they were still hitting her and threw her own punches to keep them off.

She opened her eyes at this point and saw them all zeroing in on her again, "Come on." She growled.

The next minutes felt like a dance. It was both dizzying and sobering. It was made completely clear what her purpose was to be in life. She was made to protect. She looked around after this revelation, in a pose obviously prepared to fight more and saw that none of the boys were going to get back up.

She gave a happy-go-lucky grin to nothing and skipped off to her house.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"**Who grew up to be three very different women…"**

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Flashback: Ruby: Storybrooke**

Ruby's theory on life was "adapt to the situation." She'd learned to adapt to every occasion. She'd dyed her hair, worn wigs, changed her style, her form, her features. She'd even posed as a man. She'd played an attorney, a nurse, a shrink, a secretary—a thousand times over she easily played a secretary. All for the sake of adaptation.

Yes, the stage is lost on her, film is much too simple as well. She was born to act though. She was born to act through life. But, she still kept a day job. She still waited tables even though she was now an Angel. It kept her on her heels.

She was able to get the best gossip in town:

"Rumer has it you and Gold broke up…" Ruby poured Belle a glass of tea as the other girl waited for her lunch.

"That was a long time ago… Almost a month." Belle looked up, surprise in her eyes.

"I figured you'd be able to talk about it now…."

Belle blushed and looked down, "Why would I talk about it with you?"

"Because I'm your friend…"

"I think we both know you're more than that."

"Then what am I? Your pretend sister?"

"No." Belle turned away from the waitress. "I'm not hungry. I'll see you tomorrow." She stood and left the almost empty diner.

Ruby took the auburn-haired girl's seat and then took a sip from her drink before giving a sigh as she watched her go. Belle would, at this rate, never truly comprehend how devoted Ruby was to her. She wasn't able to get anywhere. Their life was in a perpetual limbo, flirting, but not doing anything; dancing around each other, not with each other; alluring and luring the other in, only to turn at the prime moment. Ruby loved games, but she hated this one.

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Flashback: Belle: Storybrooke**

Belle loved computers. After the curse broke, after she was released from the looney bin, after all the stuff happened, she discovered just how cool the digital world was. She'd formerly been the equivalent of a literary hacker before the curse; now that the curse was over she'd graduated to the digital age. She'd created programs, she hacked people when she was bored—just to see if she could. She then told said people they needed better security. She was a gamer. She had the newest versions of Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and Mass Effect… and the ones that weren't even out yet.

It was no surprise when Emma came to her to become an Angel. She'd creeped and read the e-mails between the Sheriff and the Mayor—she couldn't help herself, the two of them were delicious. They were like all the great romances in literature, but they were real. It was too good to pass up!

However, being asked to be an Angel was also a bit of a shock considering the person she'd grown into. Her social abilities were that of a high-grade, socially awkward introvert. She was shocked that she was able to get herself into the situations that the Angels seemed to get in all the time.

Though most of her thriving social ability would be because of Ruby:

"Hey."

Ruby's whisper caused Belle's heart to leap to her throat. She turned in the cell she was shoved in by the guards of the new Queen of Hearts to find Ruby upside down on a rig.

"What?" She whispered shocked, "How?"

Ruby smirked as she flipped over so she was right-side up and held a harness out for her, "You didn't think we'd leave you did you? Didn't think _I'd_ leave you? Especially after you saved me?" By the time she was finished asking her questions, she and Belle were mere inches from each other.

Belle swallowed audibly, "I hoped not."

Ruby smirked as she held onto the other girl—for extra support—and held back her grin when Belle held on for dear life as they ascended back up the tall, prison ceiling. "I'm never gonna leave you behind. Okay?" she continued whispering.

"Okay."

Yes, there was something about Ruby that made Belle's head swarm with a multitude of possibilities. She was never sure what Ruby really wanted. She was never sure what she wanted. She felt as if Ruby was for her taking sometimes, but she never took the opportunity. And now they were in a perpetual limbo, both too scared or stubborn or ignorant to do anything about it.

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Flashback: Mulan: Storybrooke**

Mulan was never one to consider herself special. She knew she was a protector, but she'd never think she'd be chosen for anything or given awards. But, she became an Angel.

That of course had to come after she told Aurora just how completely and utterly in love with her she was; after Phillip went off the deep end, drinking himself into oblivion and hitting Aurora everywhere but her stomach; after Aurora decided she'd had enough, after Aurora admitted her own feelings for Mulan, Mulan raided—picked over every inch of the giants' castle and found one seed perfectly preserved. She quickly found Aurora and soon they found themselves in the forest of Storybrooke, Maine.

Of course, they didn't realize where they were until they found the town—until they ran into Emma making her evening rounds at the forest's edge:

"What the hell?" Emma got out of her car and walked over to a wildly pregnant Aurora and a phenomenally suited Mulan in the woods, "How the…? What the…? It's been a long time…"

"We found a bean. Mulan found one…" Aurora said as she shivered with the evening chill.

Mulan immediately took some of her armor off to get to her clothes and protected the princess with her coat. "We needed to get out of the enchanted forest…"

Emma raised her brows and stared at the swollen belly of the woman on Mulan's side, "I see…"

"Phillip isn't the man he used to be." Aurora provided, "Besides, Mulan's had my heart since we met." She cuddled into her protector.

"We need a place to stay. I need to find work. I'm good with my hands, I'm able to protect people—" Mulan started to ramble, but Emma put her hand up, stopping her.

"Slow down, Sparky. Let's just get you guys some place warm." She walked back to the cruiser and opened the back door for them, "I'll take you back to mine and Regina's. She'd kill me if I brought you to Granny's."

"Regina? Regina the evil queen?" Mulan was ready to protest.

Emma turned back to them and scrunched her face, "Eh…. Yes and no. Not so evil anymore, lest thy name be Emma Swan and you've done something to royally piss her off and earn a spot on the couch."

Both women chose not to hide their confusion. A, "Huh?" came from them both at the same time.

"She's not evil, she's good. I promise! We're married. Happily married. No evil in the house at all…" Emma gave them both a smirk, "Maybe a little wickedness in the bedroom, but you two didn't need to know that…" She sobered once more at the end of her sentence. "Just… come on." She gestured to the car door. After receiving a questioning look from them both, she remembered they had no idea what the hell the cruiser was, "It's a mechanical carriage. In you go."

Since then, Mulan became deputy while they learned the ways of this different world. Aurora had the baby, a girl as well, named Rose. And soon enough, Emma approached Mulan about being an Angel. No, Mulan had never considered herself special, but now she had a wife, a child and she was an Angel.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"**But they have three things in common. They're brilliant, they're beautiful…and they work for me. My name is Emma—But you will call me Momma."**

**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Please read and review. Obviously this is the teaser chapter. The real story will start with the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This chapter starts a while before the last chapter. This is a story that will come full circle. Just so everyone knows. Also, there will be a few chapters where I try my hand at being a Once writer and jump around with time, and go back and forth and sideways and all of that. You've all been warned.**

Ruby was always the first into the office, and let Ruby tell you just how shwanky the office was. They kept it clean themselves, and thanks to Mulan's OCD-ish tendencies, it was immaculate. It was very modern and chic, but oh-so-comfy—the couches were better than her own bed.

Ruby made sure they were always fully stalked on food and Belle was always coming up with helpful, or just plain badass looking gadgets and gizmos—Ever since Belle became an Angel she became a hacker extraordinaire and an inventor that would make most weep at their uncreative minds. The woman—just because Ruby once referenced the episode of FRIENDS in which Joey is all excited because they got the 'TV that appears as if from nowhere!' and thought that would be cool—built their TVs (that's right TV_s_ as in multiple) into the wall and they too appeared as if from nowhere with a simple touch of a button.

Belle also, during a particularly grueling case that unfortunately involved a scared nymph ready to take off, made a cell in the corner of their office that could contain even the most magical. Yes, it was the same concept as her former lover's cell fro the enchanted forest but updated to the 21st century. The cell really wasn't as much of an eyesore as they initially thought it would be. In fact they put a small table in it and used it as a kitchenette sometimes when the main table was covered with various case materials.

However, when Ruby walked in that morning, the main table was completely clean. They'd solved their latest mystery, their latest fiasco and Ruby was already ready for more action. She'd just brewed some coffee—Granny's style—and was working on the rest of breakfast when the door opened.

"Hey." Mulan said as she hung her now infamous letterman jacket with the brown leather sleeves and lined pockets, and the navy body, cuffs and collar on the coat rack.

"Good morning." Ruby turned back to the scrambled eggs she was making.

As soon as she'd plated them, Mulan gave a huff and a, "Think fast!"

Ruby channeled her inner wolf and spun at top speed, saw the big red and grey tennis ball and caught it. "Oh! I love the bigger ones! They're way more fun than the dinky little ones." She tossed it back to Mulan.

"The dinky little ones? Meaning actual sized tennis balls?" Mulan threw it back.

"Yes."

"I'm amazed you have such a preference of tennis ball… Could it be your inner pooch that loves these tennis balls so? Wanna play fetch?"

Ruby was unimpressed. She threw the ball with all her strength. It didn't register that Belle was walking in behind Mulan.

Mulan though, knew that this was going to happen and ducked. Belle shut the glass door, saw the ball leave Ruby's hand, and let gravity do its job as she hit the deck. She heard the ball hit the thick, bullet-proof glass, and bounce off, hitting the couch hard, a plant and finally slowing down to a resting point just in front of the fireplace.

Belle stood up and looked at the door to see that the glass had spider-webbed out. "And what do you have to say for yourself?" She looked expectantly to Ruby.

"Mulan made fun of my wolf—You know I hate it when you compare my wolf to a common trainable household pet!"

Mulan only gave a grin as she moved to the breakfast bar and plated some breakfast, "You know I only do it to rile you up…"

Ruby growled in her throat before she turned to Belle apologetically, "It didn't hit you…"

"Thank gods." Belle gave the werewolf an exasperated pointed look before she too moved to the breakfast bar.

Ruby slowly made her way to sit next to Belle, giving Mulan a look, asking for some privacy, to which Mulan picked up her plate and moved to the couch she preferred and turned on the singular TV that wasn't hidden in the wall and wasn't hooked up to their other stuff. Belle watched Mulan leave, and turned to see Ruby three inches from her face and realized why she did. She pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes at the woman next to her and turned to her food.

"I'm sorry I almost killed you. It' not my fault." Ruby whispered, "Please forgive me."

"You had to have smelled me coming."

"You know when she riles me, I don't think about what I hear or smell…"

Belle thought that one over, "Okay fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine you're forgiven."

Ruby wanted to kiss her, then she wanted to kiss her cheek. Instead she smiled a cheeky smile and pushed from her seat to hug the other woman from the side. She felt Belle move into her hold and stayed there longer than needed. Just as she was about to say something, the door opened again and Ruby pushed from Belle back into her seat.

"Morning girls."

"Archie!" The three said together.

"What's happened here?" Archie asked looking at the door.

"Mulan." Ruby pointed to the Angel on the couch.

"No! Ruby!" Mulan pointed back.

"Both of them." Belle provided when Archie looked her direction.

Archie nodded, "Angels. Do we need to have a little heart to heart?"

"No." Ruby moved over behind the couch Mulan was sitting on and leaned over hugging the other woman, "We love each other. We just like to play…"

"Yeah. Super strength is a convenient thing to have when you horse around with a werewolf." Mulan said as she and Ruby gave each other the same playful look as Ruby made her way back to her place next to Belle.

Archie just got his plate of food and sat down at the table, and the Angels followed suit, when the phone started ringing.

"Well… I suppose I should answer that." The therapist took his plate with him as he turned the super secret TVs on and hit a button on the phone.

"Good morning, Angels."

"Good morning, Emma!" The three sat in their usual places—Ruby on one couch, Mulan on the other, Belle at her computer station.

Archie managed to take a bite of food before Emma started speaking.

"If you look at the screens I'm sure Archie's turned on and the e-case files I'm sure Archie's giving you, you can see we have a new client today. A big one, the biggest we've ever had."

Archie set his plate down and ran to the docking station where the Angels' ipads charged. He handed each Angel their designated ipad—Ruby's was red with an intricate mandala design, Belle's was one a typical person that didn't know her inner self might expect—it had a cute, tasteful paisley design, and Mulan let her daughter pick the color and wound up with a sky blue case that had a wallpaper-ish rose pattern design to it.

The Angels quickly opened their ipads and clicked on the case file Emma had sent to them through the cloud.

"Your wife?" Ruby asked, looking over to the speaker box.

"Yes." There was a pause from their boss before, "Regina was notified late last night that the diamonds from the diamond mines have been stolen—No one else has been told, none of the workers know a thing, which is an advantage for us."

"Because we can all find a tell for when someone is lying, yeah." Ruby interrupted, "Emma.. hardcore magical blocks were put up a while ago to stop this kind of thing from happening—"

"And there are biweekly checks for inspection on the security system. How did this happen?" Belle finished all the Angels' question.

Mulan looked over her file, "Yeah… I mean, they are stored in the biggest, best safe there is, the one Belle picked out. There's fingerprint and eye scanners _before_ you get to the fun part of figuring out the code and actually getting inside."

Belle and Ruby looked at Mulan with the same smirk. Mulan was about to ask why they always gave her that look when she started talking break-ins when the door opened once more.

A vastly pregnant Regina sauntered in. And may anyone with working eyes point out, pregnant looked good on the formally evil woman. She seemed to literally glow sometimes, "On top of that, there are the heat sensors, motion sensors, lasers and the equivalent of those things for the magical that protect both the outside and the inside of the safe. Whoever was able to steal these diamonds is not a new thief; they had to have been skilled and they had to have someone on the inside helping them out."

"Oh good, Regina's there. Good morning, Ladylove."

"Good morning, Darling."

The Angels did their best to be silent as they snickered at the mushy power-couple of the town. Regina though, caught their amusement.

Emma's voice broke the silence, "Let's go save the magic of Storybrooke! And Angels…? Stay safe."

"Already on it, _Darling._" Ruby called as she and Mulan stood and walked over to see what Belle was pulling up on her computer.

They felt Regina's eyes on them as they stared at the computer and looked up, waiting for further orders.

"Was there anything else, Madam Mayor?" Belle asked.

"I'm just waiting to see the Angels in action, that's all." Regina gave them a look.

Ruby could smell the sudden jealousy teem from the mayor. She walked over to the woman that she considered a friend and spoke so no one else could hear her, "Emma didn't want you to be an Angel because she couldn't risk losing you. She can risk losing us no matter how close we are, none of us are you. We're okay with that. We knew what we were signing up for."

She put a reassuring hand on Regina's forearm. "If you guys didn't have Henry and didn't want more," the werewolf stared at Regina swollen belly with a smile, "Or weren't expecting the most powerful little creature in the near future, she would love nothing more than fighting the bad guys with you… But you do have Henry and you did and do want more kids and are expecting another baby. So she formed the Angels…to protect you."

"That's a weak excuse. Mulan—"

"Is basically invincible. Sure she bleeds and stuff, but… The girl has fought the Huns, always takes on at least five dudes and knocks them out cold, uses magical beings' magic against them, has been shot and recovered in four days, and has survived a bomb blowing up…on a boat she was searching and healed completely in less than a month…"

"She's got a child."

"She can't seem to die. You know Emma wouldn't take the risk if she hadn't talked it over explicitly with Mulan. She loves you and she wants you safe."

"She wants you safe too."

"We know." Ruby smirked, "Let us do what we volunteered to do. What we somehow were made to do…"

Regina nodded, "I'll just be at the office. Call my cell or Emma if you need anything."

"We always do." Ruby winked before she opened the door for the Mayor.

"What happened here? I thought I paid for bullet proof glass…"

"You did, but that doesn't mean it's werewolf proof." At the scolding look she received, Ruby ducked her head, "Sorry Madam Mayor."

It was finally Regina's turn to smirk, "I'll send a repair man over this afternoon."

Ruby shut the door after the mayor left and went to stand behind Belle as Mulan and Archie moved to stare at the larger TV screens to see what Belle was doing. The werewolf leaned down, getting in Belle's space, "What do we have?" She asked.

"Well, the job would have had to have been inside. I pulled records of everyone that's ever worked or worked close to the mines, related with them in some way. Right now, my special little program here is weeding out the workers, making potential suspects." Belle opened her drawer of rock candy sticks and pulled out a lime flavored one.

Ruby leaned in impossibly further, "Feeling sour today?"

Belle sat frozen for a moment before she slowly moved and reached into her mini fridge for a Mountain Dew, "Not particularly. Keep up your shenanigans and I just might." She popped the tab of her Dew and stuck her crazy straw with Road Runner wrapped around one of the loops and took a sip.

"Am I supposed to take a hint?" Ruby eyed the character on Belle's straw.

"Meep, meep." Belle merely smirked and gave the werewolf a wink before taking another sip.

"You're going to rot your teeth. You need to eat real food."

"Well, that's why you're in my life. You make sure I eat breakfast and bagel bites." She didn't wait for a response as the program limited the people that could have been involved to four suspects. "Okay, it looks like we've got Tiny, Grumpy, Tink and Hook."

"Well the first two are a joke…" Mulan said flatly as she moved to put her ipad back where they kept them, grabbed the special ear pieces Belle made that let them communicate anywhere, any realm, any time as long as at least one other person had theirs in or someone was at Belle's computers. After putting her ear bud in, she moved to grab her coat. "I'm gonna follow Hook. I don't like him."

Ruby rolled her eyes, "He's not that bad… Just because he flirts with everything that moves—"

"He's tried to bed my wife. Twice. In front of me." Mulan raised her brows expectantly and waited for a response.

"Don't kill the suspect, Mulan." Archie interjected, "Bear in mind he's a pirate. Pirates always have information."

Mulan nodded once and walked out the door.

"I'll go work on Tink." Ruby turned to Belle after grabbing her own ear bud, "You think you can handle those two vicious criminals on your own?"

"I wish you wouldn't make fun of the system. It flagged them both for a reason."

"Yeah, Grumpy can't love his true love and is a drunk because of it and Tiny is supposed to be a peaceful giant that was robbed and plundered by Charming's twin brother and Jacqueline, then by Emma and Hook, then by Cora, then was kidnapped here, then made human size and still can't be a giant because of where we live and the fact that we _might_ get visitors…"

"They're valid reasons." Belle narrowed her brows pushing from her computer station to grab her ear bud, "Would you not do anything for love? Like take diamonds so that your love couldn't be a fairy anymore? Would you not steal diamonds just to get back at the people that have done nothing but rob you, kidnap you and abuse you?"

Ruby pursed her lips and looked at Archie who seemed to be thinking that one over. "It's Grumpy and Tiny…" That was the only defense Ruby had. "You want me to go with you first then I'll start in with Tink?"

Belle moved for her coat, "No. I'm a big girl." She pushed past Ruby, "I can take care of myself."

"You girls come back when you have something, or don't have anything." Archie looked pointedly to Belle, "I'll shut down and lock up here then I'll be in my therapy office. Keep me posted." He smiled at the two Angels as they left.

He saved the suspect list and stared at the screen with the pictures of their four suspects, "The thing with electronics, they don't give hunches. They don't deduce the unexpected…" He inhaled deeply, "Dear gods please let me be wrong." He turned the TVs off, and put Belle's computer to sleep before he walked out of the office to go to his office across town. He had a hunch that he wasn't too excited to explore…

**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Thoughts and feels?**


	3. Chapter 3

Belle had absolutely no luck. Because the employees were uninformed of the break-in, she had to dance around the topic. She could clearly see that neither Tiny nor Grumpy knew what she was talking about. Either they were incredibly smart, cunning and brilliant actors, or they had no clue what was going on.

She'd come back to the office and set the algorithm differently for weeding out all the possibilities, and continued digging into Grumpy's and Tiny's back-stories. She knew that there was a completely logical assumption. That there wasn't a third person involved and it was simply Hook and Tink, but something besides the facts and the math, something deep down told her that just wasn't the case. And that it possibly wasn't either of them.

She pulled out a rock candy stick, this time is was blue raspberry, popped open a Mountain Dew and tried to think of anything she could be missing, forgetting to add, or forgetting not to include for her next few algorithms.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Public Ruby was very happy-go-lucky—as apposed to Angel Ruby who actually understood how deceptive the world could be. She'd quickly gone to her place, changed into her waitressing clothes and made her way to the diner where, according to Granny, "That Tinkerbelle comes in at 10 every morning, sits alone and stares at the table; I swear she's planning something. Something big. I can smell it."

After walking into the diner, after eyeing her grandmother, silently communicating that she had been paying attention and the Angels may have just stumbled upon Tinkerbelle's big plans, she grabbed her apron and a coffee mug and skipped over to the former fairy that sat alone.

"Hey." Ruby gave her a bright smile.

"Hi…?"

"My Granny's told me that you're always alone. That's sad. I've decided to be your friend. Want to hang out?"

"Uh…"

Ruby read the blonde easily and cut her off at the pass, "It's okay if you don't. I know I'm a little overwhelming. You're not ready for the lemur, I get it."

"The lemur?"

"That's my universal metaphor for the things unknown. You don't know me, that's fine. But I promise, I could be a really good friend. I won't make you do anything you don't want to do." Ruby looked down at her hair and played with the tips a moment, it was as she glanced up at she saw it—that she smelled it. Lust. Fairy lust—former fairy lust—smelled quite different from normal human or any other shape-shifter or human-like creature.

She couldn't help the smirk as blue eyes finally moved from the V on her chest to her own blue eyes. "We can hang out… Do whatever." She stood and poured coffee into the blonde's mug, "You're really pretty…" She intentionally over filled the mug, "Oops!" She took the rag from between the strings of her apron and mopped up the coffee. She leaned in particularly close and whispered, "Sorry, Gorgeous." Then the werewolf winked, "Let me know if you need anything." And with that, she sauntered away.

She made her way to the back and put in her earpiece, "Anyone there?"

~0~

Belle sat up straight in her seat from her reclined, bored looking position, "Ruby? What's going on?"

~0~

Ruby checked inhaled deeply to make sure that she couldn't smell anyone else in normal hearing distance, "Tink is definitely a part of something big, but it could be totally unrelated to the diamonds. She's hiding something though. I'm going to work on her more."

~0~

Belle knit her brows, "I know that voice. That's your flirty voice. What are you going to do? Flirt her to confession?"

~0~

Ruby smirked at the almost distressed tone of the other woman, "If I have to. Whatever it takes to get the intel. It's not like I have someone to come home to… Right?"

~0~

Belle glowered at the speaker Ruby's voice was coming from, "Right. Go on then. Have fun."

~0~

Ruby rolled her eyes. _Really? Belle wants to play it that way? Fine. _"I will." Ruby took her earpiece out before walking back outside.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Mulan had made it obvious that she was following Hook. She wanted him to know that she suspected him for something. She wanted to see if the pirate side of him would still boldly take her right to the source. She knew that he was cocky, but as he walked into her neighborhood the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she became completely aware of every little thing around her.

She followed him up her street and she followed him to her house. Shit was about to get real.

He rang the doorbell, which gave Mulan pause.

She watched her wife answer and look at the man confused, "Can I help—?"

"'Ello, Love. Miss me since last time?"

"What are you—?"

Hook didn't wait for her to actually respond, no, he just pulled Aurora into his hold and kissed her.

If there was one thing Hook learned in this town, it was not to flirt with Mulan and really, really, if he wanted to keep his manhood in tact, not to flirt with Aurora. Aurora was completely and utterly off-limits. But that's exactly why he did what he did. He wanted to make sure that Mulan knew that she couldn't intimidate him. He was a pirate for Christ's sake.

Sure, he was a pirate; he was cunning, smart, devious and could swashbuckle almost any woman he pleased. But he was also cocky, always underestimated his opponents. He didn't think about just what Mulan would do if she saw him kiss her wife. At least he didn't until he was ripped from the front porch step and thrown a few feet into the front yard.

Mulan made sure to catch his confused eyes before turning to her wife, ushering her quickly into the house and shutting the door with force behind her before jumping off the porch steps. She waited for Hook to stand, she waited for the amused chuckle she knew was coming and after he let that chuckle out, she growled with a nod and a wicked grin, "What's up?"

Hook started for her, but she popped him twice with a quick, succinct, staccato, 1-2 punch. He staggered back, looking all too drunk as he did. But as he started to smell and taste his own blood he was ready to spill someone else's.

Mulan saw the desire for a real fight in his eyes and waved toward herself, "Come on." She growled.

She let him get a couple good punches in, let him start to build his confidence up before she shut him down. It took one punch to the gut, flipping him onto the ground and another punch to the face to knock him out. She glowered at the pirate as he lay unconscious in her front yard and stood up.

As soon as she turned around to face the front of her house, the door opened, "What was that?" Aurora didn't give her wife time to explain anything before her questions started.

"A pirate." Mulan growled before taking a calming breath as she started walking up the steps to calm her mortified wife.

"We have a child!"

Said child took this opportunity to make her presence known by running and jumping on Mulan, "Mu!" This was Rose's word for 'Mom' for Mulan.

"Hello my Briar Rose." Mulan happily accepted the hug her daughter gave her, "How has your day been so far?"

"Good. Me and Momma's makin' lunch. You gonna eat lunch with us?!"

The toddler was too excited to say 'no' to. Mulan looked to the yard where Hook still lay unconscious, "I've got time for lunch, sure." She smirked at her wife as she brought Rose into the house.

Aurora stared at the man that decorated the yard and back to her wife as she shut the door, "You're that confident that you have time? What if our friend wakes up?"

"Honey, how many times do I have to tell you, when I knock someone out they tend to stay knocked out…"

They shared their, 'Mulan is too cocky for her own good, but Aurora loves it' look as Aurora shut the door behind them.

~0~0~0~0~0~

After walking out to the main part of the diner, Ruby didn't bother going to Tink's table. No, instead she went to every other table and made eyes at Tink before completely ignoring her.

Tink stood and made her way over to the diner counter where Ruby stood, bent over, resting her upper body, waiting to be called on. Tink got about three inches from the werewolf and tucked a napkin into the top of her left breast in the small slot the unbuttoned part of her shirt provided, "My place 9 o'clock tomorrow night." She leaned into the brunette.

"I'll be there."

"Good." Tink looked Ruby up and down before she walked out of the diner.

Granny walked around to her granddaughter, "Just what the hell are you getting yourself into now, Girl?"

"Relax Granny. I can take care of myself."

"I know you can." Granny leaned in a bit, placing a comforting hand on her granddaughter's forearm, "But why get yourself mixed up with someone you don't love? For a job? That's not like you…"

"I do this kind of thing all the time. Seduction is the easiest technique."

"Sure, you seduce, but you never let yourself get seduced… I can smell the attraction on you girl, you can't lie to me. Be careful. Remember who you are and who you love."

"That would be easy if the woman I loved would do something about it."

"Why can't you do something?"

"Every time I try she shuts me down." Ruby pushed from the counter, "And I am only one young, vibrant, sexy shape-shifter! I have needs Granny." She said those words jokingly, but both women caught the hint of truth underneath.

Granny said nothing more, she just nodded and let her granddaughter go off and help save the town from evil.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma walked into the mayor's office, "You ready for lunch? I figured we could go home, take a long lunch." She waggled her brows suggestively. It was then she noticed her wife's sad, concerned eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I've just got a terrible feeling about all of this."

"All of what?"

"The case the girls are working on."

"The diamond case the _Angels_ are working on?"

"I just feel like there's something deeper than a person that wanted to steal the diamonds and make the magic themselves."

"Well.. We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. Mulan, Belle and Rubes are the tip of the top of the best of the best."

Regina shook her head, "Darling, I'm sorry, but they're a little parade of feminazis that run the town and play mind games, maraud cyberspace and use muscle to get confessions."

"Feminazis? Really? You're the town mayor! You've brought so many laws into this fake town that equalizes women and women's rights that at this point, men are the ones that are going to have to fight for their own rights. My girls aren't feminazis. They kickass and take names… They're trash collectors. They pick up garbage off the street, slap them in jail and start all over again. They're policewomen but way better than policewomen as I give them more leeway to do what they need."

Regina turned from Emma, scooting her desk in completely, "Ruby seems to think they're acceptable risks—Acceptable risks, Emma?! Since when do you think like that?!" The brunette was getting worked up.

This worked up the blonde. "Since I found something—someone that I can't lose! I formed the angels because I needed help with cases, then I gave them all the power because I can't… I can't not be there for you…" Emma shook her head, a sudden bout of tears springing to her eyes, "And I can't risk losing you, losing Henry or losing the baby…"

"Hannah." Regina pressed her forehead to Emma's, "The baby has a name. You picked it out."

"You finally agree with me? We do the 'H' thing with the kids?" Emma smirked before kissing her.

Regina pulled from the blonde, "You knew I agreed with you when I called you stupid. She makes me very hormonal."

"And that's different from when you're not pregnant?"

The face Emma received was one of the better 'fuck you' reactions she'd gotten from the woman that stole her heart without actually stealing her heart. "I'm sorry, do you want to sleep on the couch tonight? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"I guess so. You haven't played your cards right since you walked through that door." Sassgina came out to play.

"Babe! I said I love you and the mood swings are totally tolerable, endearing even. What did you hear?"

~0~0~0~0~0~

Hook awoke with a start to the sound of an explosion followed by the beginning of cheesy 70s crime-fighting music, three feminine laughs, then two distinct cries of, "That is so you Mulan!"

And one distinct cry of, "Nuh uh! If anyone it's Ruby… Or maybe the quiet yet deranged Belle!"

"Bullshit!"

"You're the one that likes to blow things up, you're the one that likes to jump off of tall buildings!..And mountains!"

Hook brought himself to sit up and look around. He was in a prison cell but definitely not in prison.

"You're the one that knows how to make bombs! I just light them!"

Hook stood and walked to the bars of the cell that showed gave way to the rest of the room. There he saw Ruby and Belle sitting on a couch together and Mulan on the opposite one by herself, a TV show of some sort playing on the screen, "Excuse me." He spoke, but not at the same level the three ladies were arguing.

"Just because she knows how to make them doesn't mean she does! You know how to make them too Mulan, don't act innocent. All of us know the ins and outs of a good bomb." Ruby shook her head at the Angel sitting across from her.

"Excuse me." Hook tried a little louder.

"Then why am I the thief?!"

"Because you're so good at stealing things." Belle spoke deadpan.

Ruby nodded along, "Sooo good."

"Excuse me! Ladies!?"

"What?!" All three of the Angels looked at him.

"Might I ask where I am?"

Belle smirked as she stood up and moved to her computer station, "Headquarters."

"Headquarters?"

"We're the Angels." Ruby gave the pirate a serious look.

Hook pursed his lips then grimaced as pain seemed to spread throughout his face, "Well, I've committed no crime, so if you'll be so kind…" He gestured to the door.

"Oh…. No…" Belle shook her head. "You're our.." She turned to the other girls with a giggle, "leverage."

Hook sighed, "Well, love, your leverage—which isn't really valuable as I've done nothing in quite some time—is hungry and thirsty. Might I trouble you for food and a drink? And maybe some aspirin?"

Mulan walked over to the cell and pointed to the corner with her eyes.

There Hook found a packet of poptarts, aspirin and a glass of water, "Seriously? That's all I get?"

"For now."

Hook grabbed the 'food', the pills and the water, then sat on the bed, "What do you want?"

"Answers." Ruby stood and moved to the cell as Mulan moved away back to her spot.

"And you to stay the hell away from my wife and daughter." Mulan glared at the man.

Hook put his hands up in surrender, "I knew you were following me love, I just wanted to mess with you."

"Yeah, and somehow you're the one that wound up with a broken face and probably some fractured ribs." Mulan didn't miss a beat.

"It's funny how that happens to people that mess with you, Mulan. Mess with any of us really…" Ruby smirked.

"Isn't it?" Mulan smiled as well, both women stared at the pirate.

Hook rolled his eyes, "What do you think I have answers to?"

**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Please R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

Hook roused the next morning to the smell of a delicious breakfast. He started to pick his head up from his cell bunk, but a hand quickly pushed him back down, fingers running through his hair then scratching his scruff.

"What… What's all this then?" He asked, opening his eyes just a crack to find a mussed-haired, underwear-clad, shiny ruby-necklace-wearing Ruby Lucas sitting on the side of the bed.

"What's all this? Breakfast, silly." Ruby's voice was nothing if not seductive.

"Is it poisoned?" Hook asked, looking at the plate.

Ruby giggled as she set the plate on the ground and leaned over him, "Now why would I poison the plate of a pirate?"

Hook now awake, stared into the werewolf's eyes, "I think the answer's in your question, love."

Ruby smirked and leaned down further, she sucked on his pulse point while throwing a leg over his waist, "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Red Riding Hood."

"I'm a shapeshifter." Ruby nodded, "Danger turns me on." She nipped at his neck some more, "And you're a pirate." She pushed herself up straight, her hand automatically going to her ruby pendant, drawing attention to it. Her hips met a hard tent in Hook's pants; she looked down with a smirk, "And you're packing…" She moaned a little before laying over him once more.

Hook was gone. He was a simple man, a simple pirate. He liked bright, shiny things, he liked to fight and drink and swear, and he loved a beautiful woman throwing herself at him. He'd gotten a drink, been in a fight and swore out of pain the day before, and today a half-naked woman with a shiny, shiny necklace was currently on top of him.

Ruby kissed up the side of his neck, "Can I ask you something?"

"Mhmm…?" Hook moaned as he felt foreign, feminine hands explore his body.

"How did Tink steal the diamonds?"

"She had help."

"What kind of help?" Ruby's hand played with the button on his fly.

"Me. I tutored her over the kind of security there was. Helped her acquire what she needed. It's actually simple in hindsight. Like keeping paper records instead of electronic or magical ones. No one can hack paper. All Tink needed was a contact lens, a fingerprint and possible codes. And those are so hard to get nowadays…" His tone was nothing if not sarcastic, "The hardest part was matching the contact to the Mayor's eye. But really… it's not so hard when her picture is always in the paper for whatever event she held, funded, or raised money for. And really, Henry's birthday is so hard to acquire."

"Regina really isn't as smart as she thinks she is, is she? Using Henry's birthday for the password…" Ruby rolled off to the side, keeping one leg draped over his as she fingered the hair on his chest.

"No." Hook smirked darkly, "She's not."

Ruby pushed from him completely and stood, putting her clothes on quickly, "So you enjoyed helping Tink do recon? Telling her what she needed to steal from the mayor, from the town? How vengeful are you because the mayor 'stole' Emma from you? Was Tink alone the night she stole them? Why did she want them?" She gave the pirate a wink, "You can answer those questions whenever you want. You won't be getting out of that cell until the case is over." She walked out of the cell door.

Hook was hot on heels though. He tried to push his way out before she could shut the door, but there was a second barrier, a magical barrier keeping him in the cell. He wouldn't be able to leave until one of the Angels decided it was time for him to. "This is kidnapping."

"Maybe you should have thought about all the consequences to what you helped Tink do before you helped her pull off one of the biggest crimes in Storybrooke…" Ruby shrugged.

Hook glared on. Then he saw movement from other parts of the room. Belle spun around in her chair and Mulan stood from the couch.

"Listen," Mulan spoke. She was reluctant, but this was her part of the 'you're our prisoner, but really our ally' speech. "You've given up enough information. That in typical situations would have you wind up in real prison, the hospital or worse."

"What's worse?"

"The morgue…" She gave the man a blank look. "You're staying in that cell for your own protection. We'll feed you and the magic preventing you from leaving also prevents people from coming in. My idea. You're welcome, mother fu—"

"That was all an act?" Hook cut Mulan off and looked at Ruby.

Ruby nodded like it should be obvious as she chanced a glance to Belle, "Uh… yeah."

Hook grinned. He could like a good game of cat and mouse, "Can I take you out sometime when this whole thing is over?"

Ruby opened her mouth, but Belle's dry, sarcastic voice filled the room as she popped open her first Dew and grabbed her first rock candy stick of the day, "Haha. Bloody pirate's hilarious. Getting conned by a lesbian and asking her on a date." She turned to the man, "Do you really think my—Ruby… Do you really think Ruby's going to say yes to you? Really?"

Hook, saying nothing, turned from Belle to Ruby to see delight and a small ounce of hope in the werewolf's eyes. "I see. I'd always heard there was a Peter…"

"Yeah… her name was Piper…" Ruby looked off to the side.

"Well I'll be damned. Apologies. I'm quite embarrassed."

"I don't correct people—or Henry's book—because it helps when I need to do what I do best…"

"Seduce a man?" Hook was truly interested.

Again Ruby opened her mouth, but was cut off, "Ruby, come look at this!" Belle stared intently at the werewolf.

"What?"

"Just come here."

Ruby walked over to the woman, "What? It's not like he can communicate with the outside."

"He's a pirate. Anything you tell him he will relay to other people."

"No he won't. He loves the game too much, having the upper hand and all that. I can trust him, I can smell it."

"What you smell…" Belle looked angrily, superiorly at the brunette, "is lust and want."

"Does that make you jealous?"

"It makes me cautious. You should be to. There's no telling what a lustful man will do."

"Nor a lustful woman…" Ruby gave the woman a look before she sauntered toward the door. "I've got things to do before I go work on Tink." She said as she walked out without a second glance back.

"Trouble in paradise?" Hook leaned against he bars as he looked pointedly to Belle.

"Shut up." Belle turned to her computers and ignored the pirate.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Ruby didn't even have time to lean against the doorway before Tink opened the door. "Hello there." Tink took Ruby's hand and led her into her apartment, "I thought I'd be ready for you, but I've still got some picking up that didn't get done." She dropped Ruby's hand and left her at the entrance while she scurried around the living room, "I'm usually a neat person, I just… didn't know what to wear…"

Ruby watched as she picked up a very small blanket with pink ducks on it among other things, but at hearing the blonde's words, she didn't have time to question it. She looked at the blonde and found that she was wearing a royal blue dress that reminded her of Belle. "You look…"

"Is it too much?"

"No!" Ruby shook her head, "Not at all."

"I was hoping you would say it was… I wasn't planning on wearing it long." Tink pushed Ruby against the door kissing her fiercely before leading her down the hallway to her bedroom.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Two hickies later, Ruby found herself walking into the office with a confused look on her face.

"What the hell happened to you?" Mulan asked with a not so subtle hint of amusement as she noted the hickies.

Archie stood from where he sat at the table, "Is everything alright? You look distraught."

"She played me…"

"She..what?" Belle stood surprised, walking over to the werewolf only to note the hickies herself. She stopped where she stood, huffed and walked back to her chair.

"How?" Mulan asked, "You're the best player there is…"

"She dressed like…" Ruby shook her head and glanced subtly toward Belle, who was ignoring her. "Nothing. Doesn't matter. She still gave me enough. She admitted to stealing the diamonds."

Hook, who'd been a good, quiet, model prisoner, sat in his provided chair backwards, having pushed it against the bars and tapped on the bars as he pondered over what Ruby had told them, then decided it was time to speak up, "She just told you she stole the diamonds?"

Ruby stared at the man in his cell.

~0~

**Flashback: An Hour Before:**

Tink hovered above Ruby after getting her on her bed, "Listen, I know why you're playing me. I know why you've tried to use NLP, why you're seducing me and why you're going to watch my every move after tonight. I stole all the diamonds at once instead of an unnoticeably little amount at a time because I want you to trail me."

"Why?" Ruby whispered, out of breath and confused.

Tink leaned down and kissed the shell of the werewolf's ear, "There's something much larger at stake that you guys need to know about. Now that I have your attention, it'll be easier."

"What will be easier?" Ruby sat up, refusing to melt into Tink's seductions.

Tink said nothing. She merely winked as she got off the bed.

Ruby flew after her, pinning the pixie to the wall, a hand rough against the blonde's neck, "If you want our help—if you need it, then let us help you."

"Ah, so you did hear that I was asking for help and that I'm not the bad guy." Tink whispered, "Let go of me."

Ruby moved her hand from Tink's throat to the spot that joined her shoulder and neck. "We can protect you. It's our job to protect you…"

"I can protect myself. I'll contact you when I can. You should get back to the office. The bigger thing I mentioned before… It starts tonight."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Ruby shook from her stupor and nodded at Hook's question, "Yeah. She just told me she stole the diamonds."

"Then why didn't you take her to Emma? Put her in jail? Bring her here?" Archie asked.

"There's something bigger…" Ruby shook her head, "She didn't tell me, but she's on our side. That I do know."

"But she stole all of the diamonds…" Archie provided.

"Yeah… I mean, I'm all for the anti-hero, but she provided no reason for it and admitted she did it. Sounds like a whack-job to me." Belle said.

"And you would know all about whack-jobs, wouldn't you, _Lacey_?" Mulan crossed her arms, obviously she was the only one to fully buy Ruby's trust of this former pixie. "She need protecting?"

Ruby stared at Mulan, "She's good on her own. She'll contact us if and when she needs something. She told me to come here because 'the bigger thing starts tonight'."

The door opened with a bang before anyone could deliberate. In walked Emma—in a no-nonsense swagger, Regina, Kathryn, and Jim. Kathryn and Jim both had horrifically scared faces.

Archie stood from his chair, the Angels moved in the room quickly, unconsciously to stand next to each other, and Hook stood from his seat, standing straight, hoping to not cause any attention. Everyone was on alert now that the boss was really, fully, physically in the office.

"Everything you've been working on, you're done with. All the recon is forgotten." Emma didn't even look at Hook as she gestured to the cell, "He's free to leave if he pleases. We're done with diamonds."

Belle started, "But the diamonds—"

"The diamonds aren't shit in comparison to a life. A child's life…" Emma's voice went from hard to somber in a split second, "A baby's life." She took a breath, "As you may recall, Kathryn and Regina discovered they were pregnant around the same time. And because ours is fully magical and not all human, Regina gets the joy of twice the baking time. Kathryn…didn't. Baby Abigail is missing."

Hook knit his brows as he sat back down in his chair. Archie moved to Kathryn and Jim, "I'm just the shrink around here, but I'll be here if you want to talk."

Emma and Regina both moved to the girls, "We've got 47 hours left to find Abigail. I've searched the place, I couldn't find anything. Rubes? Go and sniff around, make sure I didn't miss anything and come back here. Belle? I want eyes everywhere. I want safety watch cams, surveillance cams, anything and everything that can help us out. Mulan? I want you to go get Rose and Aurora and bring them back to mine and Regina's. Regina magicked a barrier around it. No one but the family, the Angels, their family, and Kathryn and Jim in or out." She waited only a minute before she snapped them to it, "Go!"

Emma then turned into her wife, "Take them back to the house. I'll meet up with you in a bit."

Regina wanted to help, "There's got to be something I can—"

"You can go with Kathryn and Jim and assure them that we are doing our damndest, and hug on Henry until I get there."

The brunette, knowing in all their time together that she'd never seen her wife so angry and no-nonsense, decided to do as instructed. She nodded, pecked her wife's lips in vain effort to calm her even just a little, and walked over to the distraught couple. She placed a hand on both their arms and flashed out of there.

Ruby was already out the door, Mulan was getting ready slowly as if her instincts told her stay in the office, and Belle was already on her computer, searching for any indication of where the baby went.

Emma stared at Hook.

Normally, he'd have asked to leave at this point, he'd have cut her off, or done something to get her attention and let her know that he was there. Instead he sat and stared at the floor. He knew something. She magicked the door open, entered, and without any warning, she pushed him up the bars with her magical strength and kicked his chair out from under him.

"You got something you wanna tell me? You look like you got something you need to share with the class." She squeezed her hand, the one holding the man up by his throat.

Hook kicked the air beneath him. He tapped on Emma's magically strong hold on his neck and tried to breathe.

"Come on. You can do better than that. I know you can still breathe."

"I don't know anything!" He ground out as he turned darker and darker shades of red.

"Emma! He's turning purple!" Belle moved into the cell and tried to push her off of the pirate.

"He knows something." Emma glared the man.

Mulan switched places with Belle. She didn't mess with trying to stop her arm, instead she popped her boss across the face. "Back off, Boss. If he knows something we need him alive."

Emma stumbled back, glaring at her strongest Angel before launching herself across the cell at the other woman. The two women fell to the ground and somersaulted away from each other. Mulan could take her own, but Emma was throwing magic.

Mulan grappled with her and finally got the upper hand. She'd managed to get on top of her boss and hold the blonde's arms down with her legs, her knees pinning Emma's shoulders to the ground, "It wasn't Hook! It wasn't him! He's not at fault. We're gonna find the person that did this and we will make. them. pay." Mulan growled. "I will do my absolute worst. That I promise you."

"It's a kid! Who takes a kid away from their parents?!" Emma screamed before letting her head fall back to the hardwood floor.

**AN: Hope you're enjoying! Please R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

Ruby searched baby Abigail's room for any clues. Ultimately finding nothing, she grabbed a blanket that was on the ground and inhaled to get a good scent. There was a weird dust on it that cause her to sneeze and stare at it a moment. But recognition of what she saw caused her hands to tremble as she looked the baby blanket's design. "Pink ducks." She breathed out.

She ran at wolf-speed to Tinkerbelle's. When no answer came she broke into the apartment. She started trashing the place for clues when she found the other blanket with pink ducks duct-taped to the wall across from the entrance and a note.

_I told you the bigger thing starts tonight. It's related to what I had to steal the diamonds for._

_-Tink_

Ruby ripped the note and the blanket from the wall. But she didn't go back to the office yet. She couldn't. She had to find Tink… She had to find this baby.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Ruby never put her earpiece in that night. There were times she couldn't have Belle or Mulan or even Archie in her head. She'd searched all night for Tink and for the baby. She'd sniff the blanket and pick up on the baby's scent, but never actually found a trail. It only came in spurts. As did Tink's scent. They weren't in the same places either.

She dragged her freezing, yet sweaty, tired body into the office to find Hook in his cage, straining to reach something on Belle's desk, which was more than a foot out of his reach.

"You look like hell." Hook said as he continued trying to get whatever it was he was reaching for.

"You were released. You don't need to be here…" Ruby said as she made her way over to him and stood between him and the computer nerd's desk.

"I do. I have a feeling…" Hook shook his head, "I just feel I need to be here."

"I have that feeling too. I'm glad I didn't need to go trace down your ass and bring you back here…" Ruby knit her brows, "What were you trying to get?"

Hook nodded his head to the corner of the desk, "That ear piece. I wanted to get all the information… Maybe my feeling would become a full-fledged realization.."

Ruby tilted her head, "You really want to help…"

"A child's life is at stake. I'm a pirate, not a monster."

"You always wanted to be a father."

Hook turned from the other woman, pacing the opposite direction, "I did." He heard Ruby rummaging in Belle's drawers before she pulled out a clear plastic box of multiple earpieces.

An unintentionally lethargic Ruby activated the bud and gave it to him, "Now you're in the know." She then opened the cell door, "You can roam free if you want. Grab food." She glanced to the clock and knit her brows, "Where is everyone?" She muttered to herself.

"They're at the mansion. Belle and Archie took off in a sprint about an hour ago…" Hook stared at the things in Ruby's hands, "What's all that?"

"Evidence." She set the blanket she'd taken from Tink's house in Belle's drawer before she started for the door, "It's a good thing you're still here… the kidnapping and the diamonds are related… Apparently."

Hook, who had moved to the kitchen turned and stared at the door as it closed behind Ruby. The milk jug in his hand dropped.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Ruby ran inside the mansion to find everyone in the kitchen, Dr. Whale hovering over a wiggling little bundle on the counter. Kathryn and Jim were opposite the doctor holding onto her where Whale wasn't checking.

"This has been the worst 24 hours of my life." Kathryn sobbed out as she leaned into her husband.

Mulan walked around the crowd to get to Ruby, "Where have you been? Why didn't you have your bud in? Why didn't you have your phone?" She asked after they got into the hallway. Then brown eyes looked over a pale white form, "You look like hell bitch slapped you. You were out all night?"

"I was looking for her!" Ruby hissed as she pointed in the kitchen before thanking the wall for being where it was and leaned against it, "What happened?"

"Mother Superior called Emma this morning. She said that their doorbell rang and Nova went to answer and came back with Abigail in a basket. No one is sure what happened. The cameras that watch the front of the Church were broken. Someone manipulated the cameras to stay down during that small amount of time though. The only thing Belle recovered was a puff of dark magic—It's much darker than Regina's or even Rumple's—both of whom use theirs for good and one of whom has been on an adventure for six months to 'find himself'.. But I mean… It's a kidnapping. The only thing we could possibly know was that it was a bad person... We have nothing…"

"No. We don't have nothing." Ruby looked into the kitchen can caught Belle's eyes then walked with Mulan into the mansion's study.

"What's going on?" Belle asked as she walked into the darkened room. She took in Ruby's form, "Are you all right?"

Ruby listened to make sure she couldn't hear anyone coming and inhaled to make sure she couldn't smell anyone too close, "I'm fine… The diamonds and the kidnapping are connected."

"How?" Mulan asked.

Ruby, sensing someone, glanced to the hallway and did a double take before answering, "That I don't know…"

"Then how do you know that they're connected?" Emma came into the room; she stared at Ruby longer than usual, taking in her sickly form.

"Tink."

"Tink. Tink the girl that told you she stole the diamonds to your face and you did nothing about it but accept a couple hickies instead of lock up, Tink?" Belle crossed her arms angrily.

Ruby turned to Emma, "She told me that something much bigger was going to happen. She didn't tell me what. Then, when I was at Kathryn and Jim's house, I found this…" She handed the blanket to Emma, "Tink tried to hide one just like it when I was at her place."

Emma was about a quarter of a second from stalking out the door, "Tinkerbelle kidnapped—?"

"No! She didn't. I didn't hear or smell or sense anything out of the ordinary. She made sure that I saw that blanket. She wanted me to make the connection."

"Why?" Belle asked.

Ruby shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "All she told me—_All_ she said was that she stole the diamonds, stole that much so someone would notice. And that something bigger was happening…"

Regina walked into the study, "The baby is fine. No physical harm was done to her and if they scared her, she won't remember."

The vintage orange phone that sat in the corner like a trophy with a whole rainbow of other vintage phones, all with their own shelves, started ringing, its white light lit bright.

"Emma." Regina grabbed her wife's shoulders.

"I hear it." She walked over to the phone. "Sheriff Swan." She spoke in a hard ass, no-nonsense yet empathetic tone.

Ruby, Mulan, and Belle turned to Regina.

"Each color means something different. Orange is abduction. It's more of an amber color than a true orange, that's why we categorized it as such… It's only ever rang once before. That was yesterday at this time."

"I'm going to go start searching." Ruby started for the door, but collapsed.

"Ruby!"

~0~0~0~0~0~

When Ruby woke up, she was on the couch at the office. She was lying on top of something nice and warm—Belle's lap, she was wrapped in blankets and there were steaming mugs on the coffee table before her. She started to lean forward for one of the mugs, but was stopped, "No, don't." Belle's soft voice caught her attention.

Ruby looked up to see Belle shutting one of her laptops. "What?"

"Lupine dust." Hook said from the kitchen.

Ruby turned to see the man wearing her apron with Wonder Woman's body colored onto it while he sliced and diced. She didn't have the strength to laugh. "Huh?"

Archie spoke from his place at the table, "Lupine dust. Lupine: Genus Lupinus. The seeds look kind of like peas. Beautiful flowers."

Hook interrupted, trying to get Archie's goat, "Kind of looks like a penis in my opinion…"

"And if you would like to talk about why you see phallic symbols everywhere, we can in a bit." Archie responded without missing a beat. He took a breath, ignoring Hook's amused laughter at his comeback and continued, "Lupine ironically also means 'of or relating to wolves' though in the plant's case… it's toxic for werewolves if directly inhaled. It's only lethal in huge amounts. You apparently inhaled enough to make you sick. Dr. Whale suspects it will be like a 24-hour bug. Tomorrow you'll be fine."

"But I need to find Tink." Ruby stood up.

"There's another Angel known for her tracking skills." Archie reminded her, "Known for her strength and agility."

"She's not so good at following someone though." Hook said hesitantly.

"No, she is." Belle looked at the pirate, "She wanted you to know that she was following you. She wanted to trip you up… instead she got to break your nose."

"Heh, heh, heh." Hook mocked sourly before he added whatever he was chopping to a pot, "Little Red, I'm making you a stew that should help flush it right out of your system. Get you back on your feet that much faster."

"How do you know how to make that stew anyways?" Belle asked.

"I'm a pirate. I've traveled the realms. Little Red over there is not the first werewolf I've ever known."

Ruby's body decided it was time to lie back down, "So Mulan is tracking Tink?" She looked up at Belle.

"As we speak."

"Okay. I'm going to go back to sleep now."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma burst through the office door a while later. She saw Hook cleaning his previously used pots and pans, Archie reading something that looked like the paper, Belle doing something on her computer and Ruby sleeping.

As the three conscious people turned to see who it was, they each straightened a little, all waiting instruction.

Emma stared hard at Hook, "The hell you doing out your cell? You decide to stay? Fine. Good. Apparently two kidnappings and diamond theft are related. But you're not hanging out here. You're potentially under arrest."

Hook turned off the water, took off the rubber gloves and apron, and quickly went to his cell, shutting the door behind him.

"And you, reading the paper at a time like this? Go be a shrink at my house. We brought Ashley, Sean and Alexandra over there so we would all get the same information."

"On my way." Archie quickly grabbed his coat and left the office.

"Are Kathryn and Jim still there?" Belle asked after the door shut.

"No, they wanted to go home. Regina put a protection spell around the house for the time being. Only the three family members, Regina, myself and you girls."

Belle nodded.

Emma walked and sat on the armrest of the couch right next to Belle, "You find me anything?"

"Tink left and moved off into the woods. That's all we found. I'm going through all security cameras, running my recognition software, nothing so far."

Emma sighed, "Ruby?"

"She's been sleeping most of the afternoon. Hook made her a remedy. It allegedly will make her better in 12 hours instead of 24…"

"It will. I've seen it work." Hook said from his cell.

"It tasted like chicken noodle soup." Ruby piped up as she yawned, trying to wake herself up for her boss.

Emma walked over to the werewolf and squatted to get face to face with Ruby, "Morning Sunshine. How about next time you don't scare us half to death, you keep your bud in, go out with your phone, or just check in sometime in the night, hmm?"

"You got it, Boss Lady." Ruby yawned before settled back into Belle's lap.

"Speaking of checking in, any word on Mulan?" Emma questioned the room.

"She was following a hunch last we heard." Belle provided.

"Alright. Keep me updated. I mean you hear of anything or if you hear nothing, I need to know." Emma started for the door.

"Emma?" Hook's voice stopped her.

"What Hook? I don't have time to deal with whatever shit you have unless it's about the kidnapping. Sammy is only six months old!"

"It is!" Hook glared at the blonde, "Whether you believe it or not, not everything I do or say is meant to annoy you."

Emma crossed her arms and stalked over to Hook, "What?" She looked expectant.

Hook dropped his voice down to a whisper, "I think the head doctor over there knows more than he's letting on."

Emma matched his intense whisper, "I think you know more than you're letting on."

"I've got a hunch, but I'm not going to share the information until I'm sure. Just… Keep an eye on Archie…"

Emma eyed the man, waiting for a tell. None came. She sighed, nodded once and made her way out the door.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Mulan tracked the tiniest trail of metaphoric breadcrumbs she'd ever tracked. It was literally following tiny flecks of fairy dust. That dust was only spilled every so often, sometimes she noticed it was mixed with Lupine. Unfortunately for whoever was playing cat and mouse with them, Ruby wasn't tracking this time, she was.

She came to a clearing only to find that she was at a hidden, small warehouse. She looked around for anyone out of the ordinary and saw nothing. She carefully, stealthily descended onto the building. She saw that the only windows were at the top of the building, so she climbed. She peered in to see…

**AN: I know. I'm a cheeky bitch that loves a good cliffy… Please Read and Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I don't know if you all have noticed yet, but everyone should notice and understand that I am playing with time in this chapter. I'm mixing up scenes and giving them a different order (which I hope is still easily readable) to make it more entertaining. However, all of this does take place in the same 24 hour period.**

Mulan climbed the small warehouse to the windows that were just under the roof. She peered in to see flowers.

"Guys?" She put her bud in, "Hello?"

~0~

"Yes, Mulan. I'm here." Hook sat up straight in his cell bed. He waited for what it was Mulan had to say to relay the information to the other two once they came back into the main office.

~0~

"Hook?"

~0~

"I'm afraid I'm all you've got at the moment, Ruby's uh, indisposed at the moment and Belle is holding her hair. What's going on?"

~0~

"I'll wait for them."

~0~

Mulan sounded unsure. Hook opened his mouth to say something, but static filled his earpiece a moment. Before a distant cry of, "Flowers!" was heard.

His eyes widened. He had a feeling something was happening. He decided to pretend like he heard nothing.

"Mulan. You can trust me. I know you're not supposed to trust a pirate, but with all that's happened, all that's at stake… you can trust me. What is it? Where is Tink?"

~0~

"I lost her." Mulan's voice seemed animatronic.

~0~

"Mulan?.. Mulan?" Hook stood from his seat on his cell bed and started pacing, "Mulan?!" A loud ringing filled his ear and then silence. He called to the bathroom, "Belle!"

Belle ran out, "What?"

"Mulan… Something happened… I think someone got her… I heard static, then I heard her say 'flowers' then she sounded unlike herself, then there was a loud ring and silence."

Belle was already at her computer, checking Mulan's location. "The last known location the GPS could pick up on her ear bud was down by the marina… What kind of flowers did she see?"

Hook shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He pursed his lips.

"Why doesn't it matter?" Ruby hugged the bathroom doorway.

"I'm pretty positive I know what's going on. And it's not Tink we need to be going after."

~0~0~0~0~0~

"I'll wait for them." Mulan was not about to tell Hook what she saw. It might mean something to him and he might not share it with the other Angels.

Suddenly, she was ripped from the building and left to hover in the air.

She knew she had no choice but to tell Hook. She adjusted the ear bud, but that didn't go unnoticed by her captor that held her 20 feet in the air. She felt the bud get magically plucked from her ear. She had to try to get the information to someone, "FLOWERS!" She cried just before the bud smashed against the wall of the warehouse.

She looked down to find a woman magically holding her up, "You?!"

"Me!" She cried before waving her other hand as if she were flicking water pellets from her fingers to air dry them.

Mulan felt as if she'd been punched in the face a hundred times as she felt herself smash against the wall and scrape down the side until she hit the ground. After hitting the ground, she couldn't seem to summon any strength, in fact, she felt herself falling asleep.

She strained to stay awake, but the only thing she heard before she let the darkness take her was, "Take her underground."

~0~0~0~0~0~

"LISTEN TO ME! I'm telling you we _need_ to wait for the baby to return before we do anything!" Hook cried as he took the steak that had been covering his darkened eye off his face and set it on the plate Ruby gave him.

"Mulan is out there somewhere!" Belle yelled at the man.

"She can take care of herself." Emma's voice was also heated.

"You're not considering leaving Mulan to die, are you?" Regina stared sternly at her wife.

"Mulan won't die. She's just gonna have to sit tight." Ruby tried.

"Let's stop all this yelling and try to rationalize what's at stake here." Archie finally contributed.

"And you know exactly what it is that's at stake, don't you?! You've known the whole damn time!" Hook angrily pushed from his place on the couch and tried to stalk his way to the therapist to get in his business.

Regina however saw this coming and turned on the magical fence, putting Hook back in his cell.

Archie glared, not realizing what Regina had just done, "And you didn't?!"

"They don't trust me! I'm stuck in this cell and monitored when I use the pisser! You! You're their guardian! You take care of them, make sure they don't get in fights with each other, don't let their emotions take control! I'm a bloody pirate! Between the two of us, _it's on __your__ head, you bloody—_"

"Shut up!" Emma screamed getting everyone's attention.

"Hook's right. Mulan is our strength. She's strong enough to take care of herself until we get Sammy back." Emma put her hand up to prevent argument, "The minute we do, you two will know and you will move in to get Mulan." She patted Regina's backside, telling her to move to the door, "Oh and uh… just for the rest of this case, let's see how this works out."

Emma waved one hand toward the cell effectively cutting off her wife's magic fence. Then she made a peace sign with her hand and flipped her hand around. Archie and Hook switched places, Hook now leaned against the kitchen table and Archie now sat in the office cell. She crooked her finger as if telling someone to come to her and pointed to the coffee table, effectively emptying Archie's pockets of any communication device including his ear bud.

"Emma…" Regina, Ruby—who was feeling much better, and Belle all spoke slowly.

The blonde indicated Hook, "He's been straight with me ever since he wound up in the cell. Archie's been dodging my questions, evading in answers and flat out lying to me since this case started. I can't trust Archie with this case. I can trust Hook." Her words were final. No one was going to argue with that decisive, honest tone with which she spoke. She looked at Hook, "You do what you've been doing, but tell me about hunches too. Otherwise, there will be more black eyes."

Hook nodded once, telling her he understood.

Emma and Regina walked out of the office.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina waddled into the living room with a three mugs of apple cider. She gave one to Aurora and one to Ashley. Sean had opted to stay in their guest room with Alexandra, not willing to leave her alone too, and Emma was stewing in her study. Regina knew that she needed to let Emma stew.

Henry was in his bedroom, though she was sure he wasn't sleeping. He was just as worried as all the adults, but he'd taken the opportunity to show his skills of comfort by taking care of Rose and as of that morning Alexandra while all of this was going on. He'd made Rose a poster of Emma's Angels and a poster of just her 'Mu.' She'd been carrying that printout of Mulan all day. Regina had a feeling that he was doing something else for the toddler.

The mayor looked at the ground to find Rose asleep on a pallet she'd made 'all by herself!' and then looked to the distraught women.

"Sammy will be back in your arms tomorrow morning, Ashley. And Mulan will be home in due time." Regina spoke softly so as not to disrupt the toddler's slumber.

Ashley merely nodded and sat back into the couch, pulling her feet up.

"In due time… is that something you were told to tell spouses in my situation?"

"No… I'm told to say 'we're hoping for the best.' But this is Mulan we're talking about. She'll be fine. For all we know, she's gathering intel…"

Aurora gave a humorless chuckle, "She's cocky enough to do that."

Regina smiled, "There you go. Just remember how tough she is…"

Aurora shook her head, "That's what I never forget… and it's what I've always been afraid is going to get her killed. Her fight, her lack of fear."

Rose's sleep-filled, tiny voice filled the room, "Mu… Mu, Mommy's…" that was all the women could make out before the rest of it became gibberish to them.

~0~0~0~0~0~

The toddler's words didn't become gibberish to Mulan. "Mu. Mommy's scared. That make me scared. Mu, come make us safe. Pwease."

The words were distant and at first she thought she was given a hallucinogenic, but when the words played over and over in her mind.

Her eyes opened.

She looked around to find the place was being guarded by the Evil Queen's former guards. She knew Regina wasn't evil anymore, but these were her men. They were dressed the same as they had in the enchanted forest.

She tried to turn her head, but found that she couldn't very well unless she wanted to hinder her vision, a mask had been put over her face. She tried to move her limbs, but she was in a straight jacket and her legs were chained down.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Archie had been at the office for about an hour since he was instructed to leave that morning. He was the first to admit that they were stuck in the case. Ruby and Belle still refused, but it had been an hour and they had no new ideas.

The door to the office was ripped from the hinges. It clamored against the wall and crashed to the floor before settling. That didn't quell the startled Ruby, Belle, Archie and Hook. In stormed Storybrooke's power couple—literally the most powerful couple there is or was.

Everyone in the office stood, all wanting to know what was going on. When Belle, Ruby and Archie descended on her wife, Regina magically held them back, preventing them from moving. And Emma… well…

Emma magically tore the cell door open; she did this so hard the cell door flew off its hinges, not unlike the office door, but this time it flew clear across the room. Regina had to push Ruby and Belle further back so they didn't get hit.

Emma was then on Hook like a leech. This time, she didn't choke him. She went right for the face, "TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW! YOU KNOW SOMETHING! TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!" With each sentence, she punched his face, his head, wherever she could get.

"Emma stop!" Ruby tried to break from Regina's hold, but couldn't, "Regina! Stop her! She's gonna kill him if she keeps going!"

"I'M NOT PLAYING AROUND ANYMORE! TWO BABIES AND NOW AN ANGEL!—SHE'S GOT A KID DAMN IT! TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW! I'M NOT PLAYING GAMES ANYMORE!"

"REGINA!" Ruby screamed, getting the woman's attention from her wife.

Regina finally let her magical hold go and Ruby, feeling much better than she had that morning, ran to Emma and Hook. As soon as the werewolf pulled her boss off of the pirate, her boss seemed to float away. As she turned to see what was happening, Regina was pulling the blonde to her magically.

Emma knelt down before Regina's about-to-pop-swollen belly and kissed the brunette's stomach before resting her forehead against it, wrapping her arms around Regina to her back.

"Here."

Ruby heard Belle's voice and turned to it. In front of her, she saw a raw steak that she had been saving for the wrapping of this case. Instead it was going to sooth Hook's wounds. She took it and examined his face a moment, "You're not bleeding too much."

"I'm not a proud man, I admit my ass was getting kicked by a woman. Helluva woman she was that kick my ass. I fetaled the hell up."

Ruby smirked before she placed the steak on his face.

Emma stood and turned with a whirl to Hook, "Tell me what you know…" She grit her teeth, "Please."

Ruby helped Hook up and moved with him to lie on the couch that she and Belle normally used. Regina and Emma moved to the couch that Mulan usually used, and Belle sat in the rocker that was rarely used.

"Let's clear something up… I'm not the only one that knows." Hook pointed with his hook to Archie, "He's known longer than I—I told you I'd only a hunch and when I knew for sure I'd tell you! I didn't know until after Ruby left then came back sick and no offense to Belle but I figured she wouldn't believe me if I tried to tell her what I knew and she sure as hell wouldn't call you!"

Regina put her hand up, shutting up the rambling pirate, "What is it that you know?"

"Tinkerbelle isn't working alone."

"We've already known that. That's why she can't control what she dubbed 'the big thing' meaning, apparently these kidnappings." Ruby said as she sat on the arm of the rocker Belle made herself comfortable in.

"What's Tink wanted more than anything for the last 40 years or so?" Hook looked at the remaining Angels then over to Regina. "You should know this better than anyone, love."

"Her wings. Her magic." Regina spoke softly, ashamed.

"That's right." Hook adjusted the steak to balance on his face while he put his good hand behind his head. "She'd do pretty much anything to get her wings back. She's proven herself worthy of her wings more than enough times, yet still, she's not received them. So she continues to do things…"

"What's your point? What does that have to do with anything?" Emma asked.

"Do you know how fairies are made, love?" Hook asked the blonde woman.

"Uh…" Emma shook her head.

"They're born from a child's laughter." Belle started, "Yeah, if a child's laugh reaches a dusted wild flower then a fairy will bloom…"

"That's not the only way. Yes, the flowers have to be dusted, no they don't have to be wild, and no…" Hook sat up and plopped the steak on the glass of the coffee table, "It doesn't have to be laughter." He refused to look at any of the women.

"How else can a fairy be born then?" Ruby asked for everyone.

"That's not the question you want to ask right now." Hook gave Ruby a look.

"Who do you think Tink's boss is? Blue?" Emma asked sarcastically.

"Yes actually I do."

"But she's the blue fairy…" Regina said, "She's the good side's go-to source of light."

"Yeah, and isn't it kind of scary to think that the damn fairy's been playing without a fully powered wand…? I mean, isn't that what you thought six months ago? While you were on that date with our dear Mother Superior, _Dr. Hopper_?"

"Archie?" Belle was the only one to speak.

Ruby, Emma and even Regina, who would blame her inability to mask her emotions solely on the baby, seemed to have the same horrified look on their face.

"You went on a date with Blue?" Regina tried to compose herself.

"The fairy that was already the lead fairy when you were like six and decided the only way to get out of your hellish living situation was to be come a cricket and she gladly granted that but didn't grant anything for Regina that would have saved her from becoming the evil queen?" Emma continued.

"Darling…" Regina scolded.

"It's a valid question…" Ruby turned expectantly to the man before them.

"Yes I did. I've always felt a connection with Blue. I wanted to explore it."

"We should call him Norman Bates." Ruby said under her breath, earning a slap to her arm from Belle.

Archie didn't hear it or pretended as if he didn't hear the comment, "I did notice that something seemed off, but I didn't think anything could ever amount to this… I'm not sure I want to think that it is Blue, Tink is working for."

Belle knit her brows as if remembering something, "Yes it is…" She nodded as she stood up, going to her computer and waking it up and turning on the multiple TV displays, "When I was looking at footage at the front of the church, I noticed something off in the previous days. The detector saw Tinkerbelle, who as you may recall, I was looking for to establish a pattern of communication to see who she was working for… Did you know that the average person can be seen on surveillance cameras 14 times a day?"

Belle pulled up multiple videos of Tink and Blue passing by each other in opposite directions, but never actually talking. "I got curious and found that they were always in the same place at the same time. They never actually look at each other or really aren't even near each other, so I guess it was by magic that they were communicating—"

"Zoom in on that frame down there." Emma pointed. Belle did as asked and they watched Blue walk by the gazebo, trip, grab the second level of wooden railing and move on; then not two seconds later they watched Tink walk up the gazebo steps, her hand moving to the same spot on the same level of the railing while she went. "They're trading notes… It's not magic… it's old school."

Emma turned to the two men, "So… she's breeding fairies by kidnapping babies for a night and getting them to laugh? Why?"

"I told you… laughter isn't the only way to make a fairy…." Hook stood, "She's breeding a fairy army. She wants to kill the most powerful baby that will have ever been and will probably ever be…. Isn't that right, Cricket?" Hook looked at the man in question.

Emma stood up, "She… She's coming after Hannah?"

Everyone in the room looked from Emma to Regina, Regina hadn't seen so many scared faces since she was evil. She simply hugged her stomach tighter.

**AN: Please Read and Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: This one is out of order as well. I hope it still makes sense! For the parts that are way-far in the past, I have labeled them as flashbacks (P.S. the Flashbacks don't end completely until there are 6 squigglies (~). If there are two or less then it's all related). Technically, this whole chapter except for the small teaser chunk after this first flashback and the small chunk before the very last one are in the past. Still, as a forewarning, this is not sequential in anyway and like I said, the way far in the past scenes are labeled as 'Flashbacks'.**

**Flashback:**

"Well, I can definitely say that you, Madam Mayor, are pregnant." Dr. Whale came in looking at a file then popped his head up from the file with a brilliant smile to match that of the sheriff and the mayor of the town. He then sobered, "I would like to run some additional tests in the next couple months. I want to give her some time to grow, but I want to see if I can test her magical capabilities."

"How can you do that?" Regina asked as she squeezed Emma's hand.

"I've been working on some things. With Blue. With a bit of pixie dust my machine works."

~0~

Dr. Whale placed sticky pads in a circle around Regina's stomach and then made a perfect 90 degree angle crisscross in the middle. He hooked different wires up to each pad then started the process. "Now, I've done this with about 30 mothers to be that I thought might have a magical baby. All of them have had their babies and thus far, this machine has given accurate results. It doesn't predict the type of power, but it predicts intensity or how much power the baby will have… Or will have after it's first two years."

"Why first two years?" Emma asked.

"Because darling, powers stay dormant in all magical creatures for their first two years… they don't need them. Only if they're under distress or someone is after them do powers ignite. Though those children tend to develop a deadly illness by the time they're of normal age to develop powers…"

"Okay." Dr. Whale interrupted their conversation. "Let's test this child, shall we?" He turned on the machine.

~0~

The alarm went off. Both Regina and Emma groaned at the fact. Emma decided to merely roll over, while Regina opted to start getting ready for the day.

"Emma…" She turned to see her wife, and when she saw that Emma was burrowing deeper into the covers she'd thrown off her own body, she grabbed her pillow and threw it at the blonde mane that peaked from the plush comfort of their bed, "Darling! Wake up. We need to get ready."

"But. It's naptime." Emma turned back around and gave the brunette her best puppy pout.

"Naptime is over. We need to get ready or else we'll be late."

This made the blonde grin as she moved her gaze to Regina's already swollen stomach, "Yeah… that would be bad." She said dreamily.

"Why do you say it like that?" Regina eyed the blonde woman.

"Like what?" Emma looked to the mayor's face to find eyes already waiting for hers.

"Like you're genuinely concerned with not being late and not at all sarcastic."

"Because," The blonde rolled to the edge of the bed, "Tonight's the night we're going to tell people I knocked you up." She waggled her brows and gave a wicked grin.

Regina rolled her eyes and turned away from Emma's kiss, letting her plant one on her cheek, "You're as charming as your father." She turned back only for her face to get mauled by the blonde until Emma received what she thought was a proper kiss.

~0~

The town meeting was a monthly thing that had to happen. Regina wore a tasteful boyfriend blazer that (for the most part) hid her already there bump. She kept fidgeting as the meeting drug on, and Emma kept offering her hand but the brunette would bat it away. She let each presenter up to give details on progress on projects or state their issues. And finally it was her turn again to stand and make the closing remarks.

"Does anyone else have anything to offer?" She asked, looking over the crowd to find no hands, "Alright. This meeting is adjourned." She held her hand up to stop people from getting up just yet, "Oh, and as a general by the by, the Sheriff and myself are expecting, so if you've noticed my body has changed a bit that is why."

The grunts and moans and stretches of arms and legs after a long period of sitting stopped and soon the crowd turned to each other all atwitter with the news.

Emma stood, put her hands on her hips and strutted over to the woman, "That was a little lacking enthusiasm…"

"It's not something that the town _needs_ to know. This is not something they have to deal with, this is two married people expanding their family. I don't understand why you wanted me to make it a big thing to begin with…"

"Are you girls really having a baby?" Kathryn came up to them then bumped shoulders with Regina, "Thanks for telling me, your best friend, before hand by the way."

"I'm sorry… Emma kept pushing me to do it tonight. And since we've been having to consistently reschedule our outings…" Regina smiled her best apologetic smile.

"Maybe now we can fit our outings back together…" Kathryn leaned in, "As it turns out, I'm pregnant too."

Both Emma and Regina smiled surprised happy smiles "Congratulations!"

"How far along?" Emma asked as she looked from her wife to the other blonde.

"Three months." Kathryn smiled, "What about you?" She looked down, "How long have you been hiding that bump of yours?"

"Wait you're three months?" Emma looked at Kathryn's stomach then back to Regina's then tried to remember 16 years before when she was pregnant. "Babe… I think Whale was wrong…"

Regina sighed as she turned into her wife, raised a hand and patted her wife's cheek, "He's right, I promise my love." She turned back to Kathryn, "I'm three months too."

"Oh that's so exciting." She hugged her friend, "You've got a long journey ahead of you. I'm glad I'm human." She giggled.

Regina smirked, "You're so kind."

"Whaaaaa….?" Emma looked from Kathryn to her wife, "I don't get it."

Regina stamped her foot, "I knew you fell asleep when Whale was speaking with us! See, this is why you can't tune out for things because you fall asleep then look as if you're a complete imbecile."

Emma knit her brows about to argue with her wife, but Regina beat her to it.

The Mayor turned the Sheriff's head to the side and leaned in to whisper, "Our pregnancy is going to be twice as long. But, the growing part of the baby is accelerated and the last nine months, she absorbs her powers and they are locked away in her body. Then she decides it's time to greet the world. She's still the size of a human newborn, I just get to walk around with a beach ball in my belly longer than average."

Emma pursed her lips and looked to the side, "Oh." She smiled over to Kathryn and changed the subject, "I bet the babies become best friends."

"Oh that would be so great!" Kathryn clapped in enthusiasm.

"Well… I'd say it's a good night for a celebration… How about a small get together at the diner?

~0~

The diner held a small group that came from the meeting. Granny handed out pie and drinks to everyone, for which Henry was eternally grateful.

Regina and Emma cozied into a booth after about an hour of fun, talking and even games. Emma wrapped her arm over Regina's shoulders and Regina was all too happy to cuddle into her wife. This cuddle, for some reason, always made Emma's heart swell with pride and compel her to drop a kiss on the crown of Regina's head. The mayor, after receiving her kiss to her hair, looked up into green eyes as she reached up and linked her fingers with the hand wrapped around her and waited for a proper kiss.

"Well, well. The happy couple." Blue leaned against the booth opposite them.

"Hello Blue." They said together.

Blue smiled and looked to Regina, "I can't help but notice how much you're already showing…"

"Yes well… Comes with the territory, I suppose."

"Mhmm." Blue looked as if she wanted to say something but changed direction, "The fairies will all be here if you need us. That child must be powerful…"

"Oh, she is!" Whale came over, having heard the tail end of the conversation, "Little miss in there broke my machine! It sparked and smoked and caused a power surge throughout the entire hospital."

Emma's smirk turned into a proud, boastful laugh, "Hey, what can we say?"

Blue looked at them both seriously before letting a smile slowly come to her face. "Well, she will be quite the little witch."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma got the call from Nova the next morning about the baby being dropped at the church. She flashed there while Regina flashed to grab Dr. Whale at the hospital.

"Emma! I'm so happy you're here. Do you have any leads on who is doing this?" Nova was truly concerned.

Emma eyed the fairy, she didn't know why she doubted the woman; she was the most trusting person in Storybrooke. She leaned into the basket and plucked the baby that had fallen asleep from its exhaustive, unwanted journey, "Hey little guy." She held the baby close to her and turned to the fairy, "We uh… we're exploring every avenue possible. We have a few ideas."

"Well… I hope the truth comes to light soon. I think this one and the other baby were made sad."

Emma nodded, "We do too." She turned as if to walk out the door, "Thanks Nova." She flashed back to her house.

Sammy was swiftly taken from Emma's arms as Ashley, Sean and even little Alexandra were all too happy to see their little man.

Emma moved into her darkened study. She put her bud to her ear, "Go." She growled in the darkness.

~0~0~0~0~0~

**Flashback:**

"Mmmm, darling I want another baby." Regina moaned as her wife nipped down her exposed torso.

Regina's words though gave Emma pause, "Excuse me?"

"I want another baby. Maybe more than one…"

Emma pulled from the woman beneath her and sat up straight before slumping forward, looking off to the side, biting her lip. She crinkled her nose in deliberation before looking back to the brunette, "When?"

~0~

Emma and Regina sassed each other constantly, but Regina trying to tell Emma that she thinks Emma's secretly not ready for a baby was bullshit. "I am not saying I'm not ready for a baby after I've already agreed to try. I'm saying that I need help at the station if you want me to be at your beck and call."

"You have Mulan."

"Mulan needs help. I need something better than just police though, babe. This town is getting too humanized too quickly. People are lying and cheating and stealing and killing."

"What… do you want like a special task force to weed out the bad guys the laws can't?" Regina turned to her wife to find a serious, determined expression.

~0~

Emma and Regina stared at the pregnancy test.

"So…" Emma started as she carefully, slowly looked at her wife, "That definitely says pregnant."

"Yes it does."

"It definitely does not say not pregnant."

"No it does not."

"So, Emma's Angels are a go-go?"

~0~

Regina handed Mulan, Ruby and Belle contracts, special contracts to be specially stored and magically sealed. Emma stood by and let the mayor—and her loving wife—do what she did best.

Regina turned from the women and walked to her window. "Now, ladies. By signing these contracts, you are signing an oath to the town as its protectors, you are signing your time whether it be day or night, you are signing your livelihood. You will of course need to go about as you usually do, Ruby waitressing at the diner, Belle the library and Mulan make a trip or two to the Sheriff's station. No one can know who you are or this little experiment will fizzle from the start. Please think about it before you sign—"

"Done. Where do you want it?" Ruby stood, and after Emma offered her hand, she gave it to the blonde and turned to the other two, "We should get matching tattoos."

"That would be a dead give away." Mulan rolled her eyes and gave Emma her contract, which was quickly followed by Belle's.

"We should get secret somethings that we all know means Angels and no one else does."

"Yeah!" Belle nodded excited, "Though maybe not a tattoo…"

"Are you girls considering the risks?" Regina asked.

"Risks?" Ruby looked to Regina, "Like saving the town and being superheroes?"

"Like death."

"Regina…" Emma scolded the newly pregnant woman.

"It can happen! Death is a possibility!" Regina felt hot tears fill her eyes. Her next words didn't hide the lump she had in her throat, "I'm just saying I don't think you girls have fully thought about this.." She turned away as the tears came down her face.

Belle and Ruby looked to Emma, who looked unsure.

"Well hug her…" Mulan instructed, "It's the hormones."

Regina whipped around angry, "Are you saying that I'm hormonal?"

Mulan shook her head, "No Madam Mayor, I'm saying your pregnant and that Emma needs to give you even more attention than she did before."

"I don't know if that's possible" Ruby chuckled. "Emma was always looking at the mayor. Even those first few years when all they did was fight then agree that they needed to get along for Henry…" she smirked. "She loves you Madam Mayor. She loves you hard."

The Angels watched the power couple hug and kiss once or twice.

"Awwe." Belle scrunched her nose at what she thought was a tender moment, however after she received that look from Regina, she's stayed blank-faced around the Sheriff's and the Mayor's adorableness.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Well… Look whose awake, boys." A guard noticed Mulan's body wiggling. "You heard Blue. Let's give her everything we got." The guard pulled out a fairy wand instead of a sword.

Mulan growled, trying to rip herself from the straight jacket or the sealed metal mask before they hit her.

She didn't succeed. Darkness came to her once again.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Emma paced, covering her face a moment, gathering herself. She stared at the raw steak on the table then looked to Hook's face as the swelling began to set in.

She sighed and sat back down next to Regina and then sat back into the couch—the picture of ultra-casual (almost sleeping casual) but her eyes stayed trained on Hook, "You keep saying that laughter isn't the only way a fairy can be born. How else can they be born and why is it so bad?"

"He never said that it was bad." Archie stared at the blonde.

"I can read between the lines."

"She's always been able to do that, Cricket, you know that." Hook decided to stand, now it was his turn to pace. He looked to the therapist, "Do you want to explain it or shall I explain what happens when a fairy is born from a baby's cry?"

**AN: Hope you're enjoying!**


	8. Chapter 8

"_Do you want to explain it or shall I explain what happens when a fairy is born from a baby's cry?"_

Archie glared to the pirate. He knew that he was appearing as if he were trying to hide something from the Angels, the Sheriff and the Mayor. He wasn't. He was trying to protect them. He sighed as he started pacing, "Captain Hook has so kindly alluded that fairies are born from a baby's laughter or a baby's cry. While that's what it is on the most basic level, it's not truly what it is."

"Then explain it to us, Archie." Belle's tone was commanding, something she didn't expect from herself, and certainly everyone else was not expecting to hear.

"A fairy is born from a baby's first genuine laugh. From something that they truly think—_think_ is funny. Not because they're mimicking, but because they've developed enough to believe that something is funny. That's generally around four months. And it's only the first time they truly laugh that a fairy can be born."

Archie took off his glasses and wiped his face as he thought about what to say next, "Babies cry all the time. It's the first thing we listen for when they're born, it's their cue to let us know something is wrong…" He paused as he sat back down. He didn't want to have to let these people know what really happened to these babies. "When a fairy is born from a baby's cry… It's not just any cry. It's not a cry of hunger, a cry in need of a fresh diaper, or even an 'I want my mommy' cry. It's a desperate cry. It's a cry that comes when they think they are truly alone, a cry that comes after crying for their protector and them truly believing that their protector won't come for them. It's a cry that can never be heard by a human if they were in the same room, as the baby instinctually knows it's alone. And it's truly desperate."

Regina stood, "I've heard enough." She turned her head, "Emma. Let's go home."

"Regina." Emma's tone was hard.

"Emma." Regina's tone was just as hard and intimidating, "I want Ruby and Belle to find Mulan. I want them to bring her home, I want the three of them to take Blue down and bring that baby home. And I want to go home. _Now._" She grit the last word between her teeth.

"They shouldn't go after Mulan and try to foil Blue's plans right now…" Hook grabbed the steak off his plate once more putting it to his face.

"And why is that, Pirate?" Regina glared at the man.

Hook stood and looked one-eyed at the mayor, "Because she's got the child. Who knows what she'll do. She's a complete loon, anything is possible and that's not something we should be juggling with, with a baby on the line."

"The girls can bring him home." Regina said confidently.

"Yeah. Have a little faith, Hook." Ruby stood, ready to grab her coat to get out of there.

"No!" Hook stopped the remaining Angels from moving.

"Why? When we find Mulan, she'll be more than happy to fight the good fight with me while Ruby takes up the baby and runs it to safety…" Belle stated.

"LISTEN TO ME! I'm telling you we _need_ to wait for the baby to return before we do anything!" Hook cried as he took the steak that had been covering his darkened eye off his face and set it on the plate Ruby gave him.

"Mulan is out there somewhere!" Belle yelled at the man.

"She can take care of herself." Emma's voice was also heated.

~0~0~0~0~0~

"Go." Emma growled in her earpiece as she sat the darkness of her study.

She then started making her way to the kitchen where all their guests were, so she could tell Regina that Ruby and Belle were on it.

~0~

Ruby looked at Belle. The two Angels then gave a glance to Archie in the cell before a more meaningful look to Hook. Hook nodded, telling them to get a move on. They grabbed their coats and made it outside.

"How do you want to do this?" Belle asked as she pulled out her phone for the GPS to track where they suspected Mulan was.

"Gimme that." Ruby grabbed at the phone. Before turning her back to the auburn haired girl, "Jump on."

"Piggy back?"

"What like it'll be hard?"

Belle gave the werewolf a smirk before jumping on.

~0~

Emma walked through the doorway of the kitchen to see everyone, including the newly reunited baby to his family, Rose, Aurora, Henry and Dr. Whale looking at the floor under Regina's feet. She looked to see a small puddle had formed, and it looked as if Regina wet herself.

Whale turned back to the baby he was examining, "Alright, a baby is back with us and another about to join us. It's a party now." His voice was ever calm and collected as he smiled at the baby he was looking at. He glanced back to the mayor, his voice still calm as he said; "Mayor Mills, you and Emma have already put that protection spell around this place, yes?"

"Uh huh." Regina rubbed her stomach as a contraction started, "Yeah. We've put up everything I could think of."

"Good. I want you to go upstairs to your room." Whale looked to Regina's side, "Oh, Emma. You're just in time. You wanna help your wife upstairs and I'll be there momentarily?"

This definitely changed Emma's plans to go help the Angels kick ass, "Yeah… Babe." Emma took Regina's arms and flashed them up to their room. She helped Regina take her pants off, helped her get into her bathrobe as per the woman's request then adjusted the ear bud in her ear, "Did you ladies catch what's happened?"

"The baby's coming now?" Belle's voice flowed into Emma's ear.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Boss. We got this."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Mulan opened her eyes. She'd taken about thirteen magical beatings at this point. And to make this more entertaining for the evil guards, they took Mulan out of the straight jacket and put her into shackles cemented into the wall. Though the iron mask, they left on. Something in her gut woke her up and told her this time she would beat them. The same something that woke her up when she was a school girl as she was beaten by those boys.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Hook eyed the man in the cell, "What do you do when they're off doing what they do?"

"I sit and wait. And listen. And advise when I can."

Hook stared at the door the two Angels left from a moment, "Yeah, I'm not one that can sit around and do nothing."

"The Angels will need you—!"

"Yes exactly. They will need me." He gave the therapist hard look before he followed them out the door.

He walked out of the main part of the building to see Ruby holding Belle piggyback and her talking into her ear bud. "Don't worry Boss. We got this." Luckily, he had put his ear bud in and knew what was happening. But as both of them looked up, they had a confused look on their face, "What?" Ruby asked him.

"I can help. I can be the distraction at the very least… I can't just sit around and do nothing… Let me do what Emma was going to do."

"Emma was going to use her magic…" Belle provided.

Ruby was off in thought, "But a distraction is good. We could always use a distraction…" She adjusted Belle on her back, "Don't move. I'll be right back." She took off into the woods.

Hook stood, staring off the direction Ruby and Belle went—scrutinizing is more like it. About 15 seconds later, Ruby came back alone. "What just—?"

"Dude… I'm a werewolf. I got super speed and super strength in both the shapes I shift…"

They took an awkward moment staring at each other before Ruby grabbed his arm, throwing him on her back and took off.

They met up with Belle in a hop-skip. Ruby let Hook down and looked at him, "That was fun, right?"

Hook nodded, out of breath, "Yeah! Great! Give me a moment." He walked over to the other side of a tree and lost his breakfast lunch and dinner.

Belle looked at him sympathetically, "The first time's always the worst."

"What do you got?" Ruby ignored the pirate and Belle's sympathy.

"Well. I know for sure Tink is in that building. I'm pretty positive Blue is off somewhere else."

"And what about Mulan?" Hook finally gathered himself enough and walked over to the two women.

"We still need to find her." Belle looked at the man, "Now's your turn. Go distract Tink."

"Why should he distract Tink? She's on our side." Ruby gave the other Angel a look.

"And what has she done to help us out, Ruby?" Belle was obviously not impressed with Ruby's attempt to protect Tink.

"She. I. We—She… I just know, okay!?"

"Regardless of your wolf's intuition…" Belle rolled her eyes, "Distracting Tink will distract whatever, or whoever else is here. Blue's bound to have some form of protection that isn't hackable so much as beat-up-able or I'd have hacked into it by now. This is old school." She looked between them, "So. Go." She patted Hook's shoulder. "Distract."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Mulan surveyed her surroundings debating on just how she thought she was going to get out. She knew that with the slightest movement the guards would come and magic her back to the darkness. She'd been tortured before, this was a close second. Her body had absorbed she didn't know how much magic, the magic brought upon her was painful and tore her clothes up. She'd been stripped of her jacket and shoes. She almost decided not to go with her gut instinct of thinking this time she could escape. But then she heard Rose's words.

"_Mu. Mommy's scared. That make me scared. Mu, come make us safe. Pwease."_

With one final intake of breath, Mulan used all her might and pulled the chains that held her wrists.

The cement gave.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Regina sat back against Emma in their bed, panting, shaking her head.

Aurora, who had somehow been elected to play Whale's nurse stared at the woman's sweaty, tired face. "Regina I know it's hard, but you need to push. Hannah needs to come out."

"I can't do it!" Regina cried. "Not when she's out there somewhere! Not when there's no protecting her!" The tired, exhausted tears ran down her face as she looked at from Whale to Emma.

Emma opened her mouth, but Whale interrupted, "Regina, I know that this is hard. I know that there are a lot of outside circumstances that can ruin Hannah's chance at life, but Madam mayor, I am telling you if you don't push for me now, she might not have a life to live. Okay?"

Emma jiggled Regina's hand to get her attention, "You can do this! We can do this—I… _I_ can do this. I can protect her, I can protect you and Henry. It's my job, babe. Push. Please push."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. I can… I'll push." Regina looked into Emma's eyes, "By the way you're sleeping on the couch for a mooooooooooooooooooonth—AH!"

"Good! Good, Regina. I need another one, can you give me another one?" Whale asked.

"Why?" Emma let Regina squeeze as much as she needed to.

"I just need a big one, Regina." Whale spoke again. "One last big push."

"For doing this to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Regina screamed.

"Phenomenal! You did it, Regina." Dr. Whale offered the scissors to Emma who happily leapt from her place behind Regina to the baby and clipped the umbilical cord.

"I'll take her." Aurora had a blanket already ready to hold the baby.

Dr. Whale snapped off his gloves and put on a new pair.

"Why isn't she crying?" Emma asked as she held onto Regina tight.

"She's just got a little drainage in her nose and throat. Hold on." Whale sucked out the goop and soon Hannah's first cry came. "There we are, little girl." He smiled as he and Aurora wiped the baby down quickly and moved to give her to her mothers.

"Oh! Oh, it's okay." Regina said as she got to hold the baby. "You're okay sweetheart."

"Yeah baby girl. Your mommies are right here." Emma, now poofed back to her spot behind her wife, peaked over Regina's shoulder and smiled down at the bundle in the brunette's arms.

Hannah immediately opened her eyes and looked for Emma and Regina.

"Woah." Emma stared at the baby, "Her eyes…"

Whale paused as he helped Aurora clean everything, "Oh yes. Magical babies do open their eyes and see right away. There are some things she'll already be able to do. Like the eyes and she'll probably lift her head in the next couple days."

All of that went passed Emma, "No… Her eyes." She pointed to the baby.

"One's green and one's brown." Regina couldn't take her eyes off her baby's.

"She's one part you and one part me." Emma hugged Regina tighter.

Dr. Whale and Aurora came over to be, "Well I'll be." The man said.

"She's beautiful." Aurora said.

"Let's get her bathed real quick." Dr. Whale reached for the baby, "Then Aurora and I will get out of your hair." He promised Regina. "Emma? Want to help?"

"Hell yes." Emma this time carefully eased herself from between Regina and the headboard before she darted after Whale and Hannah who went into the bathroom.

Aurora smirked before she turned to Regina, "Let's get you cleaned up as well."

Regina held up a hand, "I can do it." She snapped her fingers. The bed was instantly spotless and she did not look as if she just had a baby—she was still obviously tired but she didn't look like she _just_ had a baby. The sweat and nasty was gone and she looked as if she'd showered. "I'd have thought Emma would be so kind, but who am I to think my wife would take care of something like my cleanliness after having birthed her child?" she spoke sarcastically.

Aurora smirked again, "She's just excited and obsessed that her little girl is finally here… She's gonna be that way for a while if she's anything like Mulan."

Regina gave the other woman a look, "What's a while?"

"I'll let you know if it ever stops." Aurora smiled, "Mulan _loves_ her briar Rose. She loves me too, but watching her with Rose…" She bit her lip to keep from smiling too much as she shook her head, "Nothing like it. It's indescribable, really."

"One brand new, brand newly clean, magical baby." Emma carefully sashayed across the room to Regina to give her the baby once more, "That is what you ordered, right?" She gave the mayor a cheeky grin as she moved around the other side of the bed and got in.

"I'll stay the night, if that's all right? Be here in case you ladies need anything?" Dr. Whale asked.

"Please." Regina nodded.

"Yeah, take any of the guest rooms that aren't already taken… Henry can help you pick one out after he meets her."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Blue floated outside the bedroom of Regina Mills-Swan and Emma Swan. She knew that there was a magical barrier and she knew not to trip it. She knew she alone wouldn't have the power to take down both the mothers and the baby—even if the baby was just born.

Soon enough she would have her power recognized.

**AN: Hope you enjoyed! Please Read and Review!**


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